District 742 Transitioning to Distance Learning for Grades 6-12

ST. CLOUD -- Secondary students in the St. Cloud Area School District will begin transitioning to a different learning model starting next week.

Superintendent Willie Jett announced that due to a rising number of COVID-19 cases in local counties, students in grades six through twelve will be switching to the distance learning model.

He says the decision was made in keeping with the matrix provided by Governor Tim Walz, the Minnesota Department of Health, and the Minnesota Department of Education.

Each week I share the county case rates provided by MDE with our staff and families. Unfortunately, we've seen a rise in these case rates, and based on the forecasts of local government and health officials, we're being told to expect case rates to exceed 30 in at least one of our counties served by our district this upcoming week.

Students at North, South, Tech, Apollo, Kennedy, and McKinley will begin the transition on Wednesday, October 14th, with full online instruction starting on Monday, October 19th. Jett says all activities and practices will continue as scheduled through Saturday, October 17th.

There are currently no changes to the learning model for students in pre-school through fifth grade.

In order to move back to the hybrid model, Jett says the county case data will need to fall below the threshold of 30 per 10,000 for three straight weeks.